The present invention relates generally to work pants, and particularly to work pants designed for use in carpet laying or other activities requiring a lot of work in a kneeling position.
The job of carpet laying requires a substantial amount of kneeling, in which the knee and shin are in contact with the floor. Additionally, the carpet layer utilizes a tool generally known as a "kick stretcher" in order to stretch carpet at the edges, and this tool must be kicked, pressed or hit with the upper part of the knee or lower thigh repeatedly during carpet installation.
Various knee pads for protection of the knee areas in work pants have been proposed in the past. U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,991 of Grover describes work pants having removable leather patches secured to the underlying fabric on the front of the pants by zippers, with padding material removably held between the padding and underlying pants leg. The patches extend from a level approximately midway between the crotch area and knee area to a level below the knee area. One problem with this is that the upper portion of the zipper may be in line with the area of the leg used to hit the "kick stretcher" in carpet laying, causing considerable discomfort on repeated impacts, and possible injury. Also, any padding in the area of the thigh used for impact with the padding will cushion the impact with the kick stretcher, making it less effective.
Various other work pant designs with removable padding inserts are known. However, these are generally designed to cover the immediate knee area with the top of the inserts in the area of the lower thigh area which is also utilized repeatedly in carpet laying, causing discomfort. Other problems in these designs is that the material will tend to stretch and bunch up or wrinkle after repeated kneeling, standing and possibly impacts with a stretching tool in the case of carpet laying. Any wrinkles in the material will add to the potential pain or discomfort of the wearer.